Prospect Co., Ltd. - Notice: Cooperation Agreement Signed on Joint Investments in Wood Pellet Project

LONDON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

As part of Prospect Co., Ltd. (hereafter "Company")'s plan to expand and pursue attractive investment opportunities in the renewable energy business, the Company, Russia Forest Products Group (hereafter "RFP"), the Russia-Japan Investment Fund (hereafter "RJIF", launched by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (hereafter "RDIF") and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (hereafter "JBIC") signed the Cooperation Agreement in pellet projects with capacities of 90K t/a and up to 500K t/a in the Russian Far East during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on May 25, 2018.

Project summary 

A.  The first project

Type:         Wood pellet manufacturing plant
Capacity:     90,000 tons per annum, with expansion to 135,000 tons per annum
Location:     Russian Far East
Construction: May 2018
Funding:      Joint investment or borrowing from Japanese financial institutions
Off-take:     Pellets manufactured from 2019 will be 100% exported to Japan

B.  The second project

Type:        Wood pellet manufacturing plant
Capacity:    500,000 tons per annum
Funding:     Joint investment or borrowing from Japanese financial institutions
Off-take:    Based on non-industrial wood/forest residue as a raw material and will be focused on the Japanese end user market

About RFP 

RFP is the largest forest industry holding of the Russian Far East and the Company believes that Russia has the potential to become Japan's fastest growing source of biomass fuel. RFP comprises a group of technologically-integrated companies from wood harvesting to wood processing. RFP holds forest lease rights for 4.5 million hectares of timberlands; annual harvesting volume exceeds 2.3 million m3 of industrial round wood. RFP operates the Russian Far East's largest wood processing complex in Amursk, Khabarovsky region. RFP leased forests and production facilities are certified according to FSC international standards.

About RJIF 

RJIF was established in August 2017 by two government-backed investment vehicles - RDIF and JBIC IG Partners, which is a subsidiary of JBIC. RJIF will, together with RDIF, invest the total commitment amount of $1 billion obtained from RDIF and JBIC. The investment fund aims to generate competitive returns by investing in projects and corporations that foster economic cooperation between Russia and Japan.

Reference 

Please see the press release from RDIF

https://rdif.ru/Eng_fullNews/3097/

Future outlook  

The impact on the consolidated financial results of current fiscal year is expected to be insignificant.

Prospect Co., Ltd
Representative:
Representative Director and President, Curtis Freeze
(Code No.: 3528 Listed on the Second Section of TSE)
Contact:
Representative Director, Managing Director,
Masato Tabata (Tel: 03-3470-8411)